Sorry some of these turned out to be a little longer than one line, unless you monitor is really wide.

Can you fit 11 people in an auto-rickshaw? Yes, but no more than one should be a six-foot tall Caucasian.

Why are there so many orange stains at the bottom of columns in railway stations and why do people never sit up against them? Because that is where men spit their paan juice, the liquid that is generated by sucking on this.. well there are lots of paan, but it all seems pretty nasty to me.

Have you ever seen a man rolling a single 4-foot diameter tire down the main platform at a train station? I have. And within the next ten minutes three more followed.

Why do white people seem unwilling to acknowledge other white people in India? I don't know but so many do seem to make a special effort to avoid eye contact, on the chance that you might acknowledge them. Or maybe they are afraid you are one of those and you won't acknowledge them. hmm... I never thought of that. Or maybe it's just me they are ignoring...

Have you ever seen a cart loaded with eight 50 lb bags of Garlic. I have.

Related to the personal space thing is another Indianism. Men here commonly hold hands and show a closeness of affection physically in a way that would make many men in America very uncomfortable. This is not homosexuality, latent or otherwise; there is simply a different cultural standard for personal space and how men show affection. Besides holding hands (btw for a great story on white men holding hands in India someone post a comment and ask Ash to tell his story. Hilarious), I have seen one man with his arms wrapped around another man's next, nuzzling his head against his friend's cheek. Another time I saw a different man resting holding his friend's hand resting it on this friends inner thigh.  When the porter at the Hotel Pankaj wanted to try a little harder to make some misunderstanding we were having a little more clear he knelt before me and rested his hands on my knees. I don't know about you folks, but physical contact is something I think is lacking in American culture, maybe not hand holding, but what about hugs, or even handshakes...

Language is an interesting thing to butt your head up against. Most folks here are very kind and generous, but this expresses itself in a few different ways.  If I attempt Hindi, almost every single person I have met is immediately enthusiastic and excited that I am even trying Hindi. If I manage to make myself clear they get very interested and many have asked where and how long I have been studying Hindi. The different manifestations of kindness come in how they continue the conversation. Many will switch to English, I assume to make it easier on me (though occasionally it seems they want to practice English as much as I want to practice Hindi). Many don't know enough English so they stick with Hindi, but slow down how quickly they talk. One man, whose English was quite good, switched back to Hindi once I told him that I wanted to practice my Hindi. Once, I have not seen it often, I had someone pull that old American trick to get over the language barrier. He said exactly the same thing he said the first time, only much more loudly. It didn't work for him either.

Have you ever seen, outside of Isreal, man walking around casually with automatic rifles in normal settings, i.e., train stations not military bases? I have, but I must admit that the men in Isreal seemed far less casual about it than the police and military I saw in the train station at Gaya. These gents struck me as a bit too casual about it, but I was tired and not feeling to well so the paranoia may have affected my vision.

Did you ever wonder.. (remember Andy Rooney)... why when people visit America we expect them to know English, but when people visit India they are amazed when you know Hindi? The young man manning the computer station is so amazed at my Hindi he has told me three times how much impressed he is. (I don't have the heart to tell him I only understand about 90% of what he says.) He too picked up on how most guests here expect the entire staff to know English, but this place is targeted at those folks, so maybe he shouldn't be surprised.